Boogie Board designer shapes board for paralyzed teenager

OCEANSIDE - Tom Morey, who invented the Boogie Board more than
30 years ago, has used his years of surfboard-making experience to
design one that allowed a teenage boy who is quadriplegic to more
freely ride the tide.

Morey, co-owner of Oceanside surfboard manufacturer
TomMorey.com, said the surfboard was designed specifically for
13-year-old Patrick Ivison of Scripps Ranch, who was 14 months old
when he was pinned beneath a car and paralyzed.

Morey said he adapted one of his designs from the 1970s to make
the approximately 9-foot board with a concave deck, which helps
keep Patrick secure. He also said the boards are safer because the
interior is composed of foam often used in car bumpers and the
outside is coated with a soft plastic.

While most of his experience has been with making commercial
boards, he said he enjoyed the challenge of designing the one for
Patrick and would welcome the opportunity again.

"My life is validated by these kinds of things," he said.

It was surfing instructor Robbie Nelson who asked Morey to
design a board for Patrick.

Nelson, who lives in Del Mar and runs a surf school called Happy
Barrels Surf, said he has volunteered with disabled people for
years through organizations like Life Rolls On - a group Patrick is
affiliated with-- as well as Ride A Wave and They Will Surf
Again.

Although in the past he has "rigged some things that have
worked," he said regular surfboards are difficult because they tend
to be too narrow or flat.

However, he said that changed when he tested the board on July 8
that Morey designed.For the first time, he said Patrick was able to
ride face forward propped on his elbows while Nelson steered from
the back of the board.

Just before he tried the board in July, Patrick told the North
County Times that he was "excited about actually being on the
wave."

"It's complete weightlessness. It's like flying," he said of
being able to surf.

Chuck Herpick, who cofounded TomMorey.com more than eight years
ago, said the board for Patrick was designed with the same
"revolastic" technology that the company uses for all the boards it
makes.

He said the boards are softer than other surfboards and have "a
nice kick to the nose."

Herpick said the surfboards are like "comparing lobster
technology with porpoise technology."

While a lobster is "hard and doesn't perform," he said the
TomMorey.com surfboards are like porpoises, because they are
"friendly, fun, fast and manageable."

Although he began making them more than 50 years ago, Morey said
he still enjoys designing surfboards.

He said the idea for the Boogie Board came from a childhood
experience of riding air mattresses in the water along the Laguna
Beach shores. He said he created the Boogie Boards in 1971 so
anyone could enjoy the surfing experience.